Manistique East Breakwater Light marks the harbor improvements that supported Manistique’s rise as a major shipping port for timber and pig iron in the early twentieth century. After federal officials recognized the harbor’s commercial importance, concrete breakwaters were built beginning in 1910, and permanent lighting followed. The east breakwater was completed in 1915, and the light first shone on August 17, 1916. A utilitarian steel tower on a concrete base, it originally carried an electrically powered fixed red Fourth Order Fresnel lens. Later automated in 1969, it remained a visible reminder of the city’s port era and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.